Sensex advances 128 pts on pharma booster dose

Market advanced for a second day as the BSE Sensex gained 128.27 points to 27,915.89, mainly led by pharmaceutical stocks after three Indian firms received nod to sell their generic versions of blockbuster Crestor drug in the American market.

Sentiment also remained buoyant as a good monsoon season so far lifted hopes of a revival in farm output as well as income and on optimism over the GST bill’s passage.

Shares of Sun Pharma, Glenmark and Aurobindo were the star performers, rising by 1.89 per cent, 2.39 per cent and 5.09 per cent, respectively. IPR Pharmaceuticals Inc’s Crestor had posted annual sales of around USD 6.78 billion in the 12 months ended May 2016.

IT firm Wipro, however, fell 1.97 per cent to Rs 538.60 after the company missed street expectations with over 6 per cent fall in net profit for the first quarter ended June.

The market witnessed a shade of consolidation inspite of nervousness on overnight projection of IMF stating slight drop in India growth projections, as well as global economic uncertainty on Brexit fallout.

“Expectant of better earnings and GST bill’s clearance, value buying continued at lower levels, and markets seems to have shrugged off IMF’s downward growth revision,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.

On the day, the Sensex opened slightly lower at 27,775.70 and moved between 27,935.18 and 27,759.71, before ending at 27,915.89, showing a rise of 128.27 points or 0.46 per cent.

The NSE Nifty moved up by 37.30 points or 0.44 per cent to close at 8,565.85.

Asian stocks ended on a mixed note. Singapore, Japan, Kopsi and Taiwan were down 0.29 per cent, 0.25 per cent, 0.07 per cent and 0.30 per cent, respectively, while, Hong Kong and China gained 0.97 per cent and 0.90 per cent.

European stocks were higher with France, Germany and the UK based indices up 1.11 per cent, 1.40 per cent and 0.27 per cent, respectively.